Once it was possible to distinguish the creative writer from the pamphleteer in the works of Howard Fast. Unfortunately for his success in the field of the novel, his steady shift to the left has cast an increasingly hectic fever-flush on each of his recent productions…. ["Spartacus"] is a far cry from such notable books as "The Unvanquished," a dreary proof that polemics and fiction cannot mix.

This time, Mr. Fast has gone back two thousand years in history—to the last century of the pagan era and the famous gladiators' revolt against the empire. As always, his heroes (the revolting slaves) are more than merely heroic. From their leader down, they are saints in shining armor, ready to level the walls of Rome and admit the proletarian sunlight. Naturally the villains of the piece (the Senate, and the legions that do its bidding) are blackhearted rogues whose...